Dolores Rosedale, a mannequin referred to as Roxanne whose burst of fame within the early Nineteen Fifties because the hostess of the wacky recreation present “Beat the Clock” led to the creation of a doll in her picture and to appearances on the covers of magazines like Life and TV Information, died on Could 2 in Spring Park, Minn., close to Minneapolis. She was 95.
Her daughter Ann Roddy confirmed the dying, at an assisted residing facility.
Roxanne joined “Beat the Clock” in 1950 when it made its transition to tv from radio. Bud Collyer, the host, presided over the weekly program, wherein contestants raced to complete stunts towards cut-off dates.
Roxanne’s function didn’t require her to say a lot at first. She posed with the prizes and took photos of contestants as they carried out their stunts. She later gave introductions of the contestants.
However her poise and glamour — and, maybe, the polka-dot ballet costume she typically wore — helped her escape.
In 1951, she donned a fancy dress for a Life journal cowl story about refrain ladies. Inside, {a photograph} that recognized her because the present’s “stunt mistress” confirmed her guiding a blindfolded Boy Scout as he tried to determine an elephant.
She was on at the very least two Look journal covers, one in every of which confirmed her posing on Jones Seaside, on Lengthy Island, N.Y.; two TV Information covers, together with one with Mr. Collyer; and one cowl of Tempo, a celeb journal, with the headline: “Secrets and techniques of Roxanne — TV Sensation.”
Commenting on her recognition, The Bangor Day by day Information in Maine declared that she was “batting 1.000 within the pinup league.”
She reached a popular culture pinnacle of kinds in 1952 with the looks of the 18-inch Roxanne doll. It was product of “lifelike latex with vinyl head, sleeping eyes and washable ‘platinum’ Saran hair,” in accordance with a newspaper advert for the Abraham & Straus division retailer in Brooklyn.
“Have your image taken with TV’s beauteous blonde!” the advert mentioned, selling Roxanne’s look with the doll at A & S Toyland in November 1952. A tiny digicam hung across the doll’s neck.
An advert from Valentine, the doll’s producer, revealed in a enterprise commerce journal, crowed: “Revenue from the influence of Roxanne’s following! Now on extra TV stations than ever earlier than.”
Dolores Evelyn Rosedale was born on March 20, 1929, in Minneapolis. Her father, Kenneth, was a civil engineer. Her mom, Thyra, was in control of receiving and processing proof at a neighborhood courthouse.
As an adolescent, she labored as a dental assistant, took programs in trend design on the Minnesota Faculty of Advantageous Arts and was a prime contender within the Miss Minnesota pageant in 1947.
She left for New York Metropolis in late 1949, signed with the Conover modeling company and rapidly discovered work.
By then, she had adopted the one title Roxanne, and ultimately made the change authorized. Ms. Roddy, her daughter, mentioned in a cellphone interview that her mom disliked her authentic title: “She’d say, ‘How might anybody give somebody such an unpleasant title?’”
In 1954, Roxanne married Thomas Roddy and gave beginning to Ann the subsequent 12 months, when her time on “Beat the Clock” had expired. That 12 months, she had a small function in Billy Wilder’s comedy “The Seven 12 months Itch,” starring Marilyn Monroe. Within the movie, Roxanne and Tom Ewell parodied the well-known romantic seaside scene in “From Right here to Eternity” with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.
Two years later, she had one other small half in a drama, “The Younger Don’t Cry,” with Sal Mineo and James Whitmore.
She additionally studied performing with the influential instructor Sanford Meisner.
She appeared as soon as on Broadway, in 1956, as a prostitute in “A Hatful of Rain,” a drama a few man with a drug habit. She informed The Day by day Information of New York that it was the “most fun expertise so far” in her profession.
She felt that it was necessary to advance her profession as an actress. As she informed The Day by day Information, she questioned if engaged on a recreation present had given viewers “the impression that I used to be simply one other dumb blonde as a result of I used to be given so little to say.”
In 1957, she starred in a summer time inventory manufacturing of George Axelrod’s comedy “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” She performed the identical function, a bombshell actress named Rita Marlowe, that Jayne Mansfield did on Broadway in 1955 and within the movie adaptation two years later.
However as Roxanne’s household grew — she would have 5 kids — she shifted from performing. She continued to mannequin; commented on trend exhibits; designed clothes; operated a trend boutique; and bought furs in Minneapolis.
She and Mr. Roddy divorced in 1979. She married Stanley Shanedling in 1981; he died in 1997. She was at varied occasions referred to as Roxanne Roddy and Roxanne Shanedling.
Along with her daughter Ann, she is survived by one other daughter, Elizabeth Roddy; her sons, Thomas, David and Michael; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Kitty Torrentore.
Roxanne encountered Ms. Monroe properly earlier than showing along with her in “The Seven 12 months Itch.”
“It was my first week in New York,” she informed Earl Wilson, the syndicated gossip columnist, in 1953. “I’d gone to a wholesale home to mannequin attire. This lady walked in and began taking off her garments. She was carrying only a gown, stockings and garter belt, and that’s ALL! I mentioned, ‘Oh, this lady doesn’t know what underwear is.’”
